240 



The Outer's Book 



and quails; nor, finally, with our wild turkey 

 and its several subspecies, and the cha- 

 chalaca. 



All the true grouse of this country are 

 included in the family Tetraonidce, 'and this 

 family has been divided into seven genera, 

 namely: the genus Dendragapus, containing 

 the dusky grouse and its subspecies; the 

 genus Canachites, containing the spruce 

 grouses and Franklin's grouse; the genus 

 Bonasa, containing the ruffed grouse and 

 its subspecies; the genus Lagopus, contain- 

 ing some fifteen species and subspecies of 

 ptarmigans; the genus Tympanuchus, con- 

 taining the heath hen and prairie chickens; 

 the genus Pedicecetes, the sharp-tailed grouse, 

 and, finally, the genus Centrocercus, which 

 has been created to contain the single 

 species Centrocercus urophasianus or sage 

 hen of the sagebush plains of the West. 



These American grouse are found in 

 various parts of the United States, and in 

 Alaska and its off-lying islands. Grouse, 

 entirely outside of these limits, will not be 

 considered, for instance, such a form as 

 Welch's ptarmigan, which is confined strictly 

 to Newfoundland. (Lagopus welchi). 



No country in all the world can compete 

 with North America in the great number 

 and variety of grouse contained in its 

 avifauna. At one time, they were all con- 

 fined to the genus Tetrao, which is the Latin 

 word for a grouse or a pheasant, and hence 

 Tetraonida or the family created to contain 

 them and their allies. We have no true 

 Tetrao in this country now, which will be a 

 surprise to most sportsmen; for, years ago, 

 they all knew it as the word the scientific 

 word which was applied to all true grouse 

 everywhere. As a matter of fact, the late 

 Professor Sharpe, in his "Hand-List of 

 Birds," recognizes but five true species of 

 Tetrao, the type being T. urogallus or the 

 famous capercaillie, and forms more or less 

 related to it which occur in Europe and 

 northern Asia. 



At one time, I know, the attempt was 

 made to introduce the capercaillie into Maine; 

 but how well it has done there, I am, at 

 present, not informed. If it has thriven as 

 well and as long as some of the Chinese and 

 Japanese pheasants, which have been intro- 

 duced into Oregon and elsewhere, it is 

 now entitled to be recognized as a bird 

 of this country, although an "introduced" 

 one. 



As in the case of the ducks, I shall adhere 

 to the third addition of "The A. O. U. Check- 

 List of North American Birds" as the 

 authority for the number of genera, species 

 and subspecies~of our grouse, as well as for 

 the sequence of the genera in the matter of 



classification. This latter seems to be quite 

 a natural one, and one of which I can approve, 

 which is more than I can say with respect 

 to. the arrangements adopted for some of 

 the other groups and families. 



I shall now invite attention to a general 

 review of these grouse, and devote the last 

 part of the article to a consideration of 

 the genus Dendragapus, which includes the 

 various forms of the dusky tree grouse. 



First in the list, then, we have the genus 

 Dendragapus, derived from two Gr^ek words, 

 namely: dendron, a tree, and agapao, I 

 love, so named from the fact that these 

 birds spend much of their time up in the 

 trees. 



Richardson's grouse (D. o. richardsoni) is 

 a representative of this genus, and I have 

 frequently shot them in Wyoming and the 

 Northwest. Audubon, who never saw this 

 bird alive, figured it on the ground (Fig. 1), 

 notwithstanding what Townsend had written 

 him about the habits of the bird. 



These birds are all western forms, the group 

 consisting of Dendragapus obscurus and four 

 subspecies. 



The next genus is the genus Canachites, 

 containing the species C. canadensis and 

 four subspecies which occur both in the 

 East and the West. 



Bonasa (B. umbellus) follows with four 

 subspecies, also eastern and western forms. 

 They are the well-known ruffed grouse (Fig. 2), 

 the word Bonasa being derived from the 

 Latin bonasus, which means to bellow, the 

 drumming of the ruffed grouse being here 

 compared with the bellowing of a bull. 



Next in order we find the ptarmigans of 

 the genus Lagopus (Latin), birds so called 

 for the reason that their densely feathered 

 feet remind one of the furry feet of the hare. 



There are many kinds of ptarmigans in 

 our country, all being of alpine or boreal 

 distribution. One of their chief character- 

 istics is that they assume a white plumage 

 in winter. In this genus we find L. lagopus 

 with three subspecific forms; L. rupestris 

 with no fewer than seven more; L. evermanni 

 which is a good example of a ptarmigan, and 

 is here shown in figure 3. Finally, there is 

 L. leucurus with its two subspecies. 



True prairie chickens belong to the next 

 genus, namely the genus Tympanuchus, which, 

 under the species T. americanus, has two 

 subspecies, while we also have T. pallidi- 

 cinctus. 



Prairie chickens occur both in the East 

 and the West, and will be fully described 

 in a future part of the present series. In 

 the matter of derivation, I may say that 

 Tympanuchus is badly constructed, being a 

 combination of both Latin and Greek. 



